Funny Games [1997] (DVD)

Michael Haneke is a director who loves to make controversial films 'The Seventh Continent' and 'The Piano Teacher' were incredibly disturbing films but the Haneke filmography seems to overlook possibly one the most disturbing films ever to grace the silver screen. This film I must warn you is an intense and sadistic ride into the world of mind games and murder. The film starts off with a happy 'Mozart listening' family who arrive at their lakeside villa intent on having a summer of relaxation and fun. They notice that there neighbours are acting funny thinking nothing of the family-mum, dad and little boy settle into their ...  Read the complete review

Violence, eh? Action movies tipped to the top with Arnie blowing off this head or another, blood and guts splattering the wall behind; Mass murderers munching on the brains of their still living victims and 'cult' movies leaving all the characters to pale away in pools of blood for the last scene. Maybe the most disturbing thing about Funny Games is that while you're watching it you may be under the impression that this is one of the most violent films you've ever seen - let's go so far as to call it Ultra Violence - and then, as you ponder over it a while, you realise that none of the 'action' actually took place on screen, well ...  Read the complete review

This is a review of the film only, not the DVD special features. It may also contain spoilers. Funny Games is a film which has been on my too-watch list for a very long time. I've wanted to watch director Michael Haneke's 1997 Austrian horror film since he remade it shot for shot in 2008, this time completely in English. The basic plot is that two young men, Peter (Frank Giering) and Paul (Arno Frisch), mysteriously arrive at a family's lake house, passing themselves off as guests of their neighbours. As the film goes on they intimidate the family with psychological mind games, which then turns into extreme acts of calculated ...  Read the complete review

If you mention Michael Hanke's Funny Games to a group of people there is no doubt you will get an amzing mixed bag of opinions ranging from hateing it to loving it, there is no doubt it is a very powerfull and bleak, scary film. Basically its like no film I have ever seen before, a family consisting for the mother, father, son and dog set of to their sumer house for their holidays where they go sailing on the lake behind the house or play golf on the large open fields near by. When they arrive they are greeted by two young men who claim to be staying with the family that stay next door. These two men are very polite and charming at first, later in the evening they ...  Read the complete review

O.K., I accept that low budget, German subtitled horror movies are not on everyone's must see list, but in this instance treat yourself to an exception. This film is truly horrific, and I mean that as a compliment. It is not a genre movie - if your idea of horror is a bunch of nubile teenage girls getting slashed by masked phantoms (scooby doo horror), then this isn't the film for you. This is cinema verite. There are no reassuring post modern ironic chuckles to lighten the load. In many ways it is the complete antithesis of recent horror movies, where violent deaths are just viewed as simple plot developments. There are people dying here, for ...  Read the complete review